LMJO 110

110. Please Be Careful

Leaving the castle wasn’t something only the king was doing.

After the king departed for the campaign, Annika also decided to return to her own estate. Of course, more than half of the Rohos estate had gone to the queen, but the villa where she had lived with her mother still remained hers.

Ideally, she wanted to return quickly to the villa where her mother was—the capital had too many things to worry about—but there was someone she needed to meet first.

Annika walked toward the courtyard of the castle where she had arranged to meet. Near the stone decorations stood a young man with dark brown hair.

She called out the name of the young man, who had grown considerably taller over the past few months.

“Dahel.”

“Little Mistress!”

He called out to her with a warm voice but quickly realized his slip of the tongue and pressed his lips together. Annika waved her hand at the embarrassed young man.

“It’s fine. I misheard you. By the way, how have you been?”

“I’ve been well. I… Little—”

And then Dahel closed his mouth again. It seemed the words stuck in his mouth, unwilling to come out.

Annika spoke to the young man, who was struggling to choose the right way to address her.

“Call me Annika.”

“…Have you been well, Annika?”

“Yes. I’ve been fine. Oh, and mother is doing well too. I don’t know if it’s because her marriage is over, but she looks much brighter now.”

“That’s a relief. I was very worried…”

“Why worry about us? You just take care of yourself. Aren’t you soon being adopted into another noble family?”

This had been informed to her recently by a man who served as the king’s financial advisor.

“Yes, fortunately that’s the case. It seems better to have a proper status if I’m going to serve under Her Majesty the Queen.”

“Be grateful to Her Majesty. I should have taken care of that for you.”

“Oh, no. Annika, you also certainly put in the effort.”

But could she really call it effort?

Annika knew exactly how cowardly she had been in avoiding the situation. She had been aware that her father was harming the children, yet she did nothing to stop him.

At the time, she thought it was because she lacked the power to intervene. Her father was the lord, holding absolute authority over the castle. She believed the only thing she could do was provide financial support to the affected children.

With that mindset, she had fled with her mother to the villa beyond her father’s reach. There, living with her mother, Annika was indeed happy.

But that happiness had come at the cost of not opposing her father and turning a blind eye to injustice.

Had she truly made an effort?

Perhaps she should have defied her father. Instead of quietly solving matters with money, she should have stood in front of those being harmed to protect them.

Of course, had she done that, she would likely have suffered. Her mother had desperately protected her in those matters, so her father never struck Annika, but she knew he had repeatedly measured situations where he could have broken his daughter.

If she had tried to help the victims, she might have been slapped or whipped. She could have been forced into marriage or had her inheritance rights taken away just for defying her father.

But that would have been her duty. It was the responsibility that came with the privileges she had enjoyed, and the estate’s people surely expected it from her.

And every time she felt guilty for not fulfilling that duty, Annika thought it might just be a rationalization to ease her own conscience.

The king had killed her father. The problem was resolved without her having to act directly, leaving her regret as a way to satisfy her own moral sense.

As Annika traced her complicated thoughts, Dahel spoke beside her.

“Have you, by any chance, seen a silver tea caddy in the lord’s reception room?”

“A tea caddy? What do you mean?”

“It’s a container with dried red flower petals inside. Made of silver, it should have a strong fragrance… Have you not seen it?”

“No, I don’t think I have.”

Though the king’s men had temporarily taken over, Annika had used the lord’s chamber quite frequently since becoming the lady of the estate. Yet she had never seen the tea caddy Dahel mentioned. She had a good memory, if not as sharp as Dahel’s, and could be certain of that.

“That’s strange. It should be there.”

Dahel furrowed his brows slightly.

“The truth is, it came from the Egelvamot royal family. Since I had never seen this type of tea leaves before, I thought I should analyze its components. But you haven’t seen it…”

“I personally checked all the supplies in the lord’s chamber. There was nothing like that.”

“But as far as I remember, the previous lord always kept it in his office. I managed it myself.”

Dahel’s words gently implied that the caddy had been there. Her father hadn’t let Dahel go, partly because of the boy’s gentle nature, but more because of his exceptional memory.

Once, when a man drunkenly boasting with friends called Dahel to memorize a book on the spot, the boy had recited it entirely, terrified.

Annika remembered the simultaneous laughter that broke out when the boy finished the book and even the hiccups the young boy had suppressed until then.

Feeling down again, Annika lowered her gaze. She noticed the floor, green with summer grass.

Dahel, who had remained silent with a serious expression, possibly thinking about something, spoke.

“Even if there’s no problem with the tea itself, the fact that it’s missing means someone tampered with the office. You should check on it.”

“I understand.”

“Be careful. The southern lords surely haven’t forgotten that you reported their corruption to Her Majesty. Of course, you know, but… their behavior is far worse than you might think…”

Dahel trailed off. Despite everything, the social gap and their formal relationship made him hesitant to speak lowly.

Annika smiled at the young man, whose expression still held a touch of youth.

“If they are friends of the previous lord, I know them well. They truly belong together in their own clique.”

Of course, not like Dahel. He had witnessed their misdeeds firsthand.

Still, there were things Annika could infer without seeing, which was why she had always avoided her father’s friends—then and now.

She spoke to the kind young man, who even worried about people she had the right to resent.

“Thank you for your concern. I’ll be careful, as you said. Take care of yourself too. Even if Her Majesty treats you well, if you ever need my help, contact me anytime.”

“Yes, please be careful.”

Annika waved instead of responding and walked back the way she came. Dahel watched her retreating figure, noticing the wheat-colored hair tied high in a single braid.

Though the gentle image of her former mistress remained unchanged, he couldn’t shake the unease in his heart.

Talia Luntalis-Amaren thought she wanted to slap her older sister right across the face.

If the face wasn’t enough, the hair would do. As long as she could break that composed demeanor, it didn’t matter how.

She knew it was undignified.

But considering her upbringing had been terrible and she had been treated like this, if she didn’t get angry, that would have been even more absurd.

Rahellica Luntalis had her standing in the courtyard of the Empress’ palace.

In itself, that wasn’t a huge problem. It wasn’t the first time they had faced each other with ill feelings, and Talia had no intention of smiling or joking with her older sister.

The problem was that Rahellica had ignored her requests for nearly a month, finally accepting her visit and summoning her here.

One could forgive that the location was the Empress’ palace. Iris doted on her eldest daughter so much that even at that age, the girl practically lived by her side. It wasn’t unreasonable for the daughter to treat her mother’s palace as her own.

Still, that wasn’t normal, but Talia could laugh it off a few times.

This, however, was about treatment, not the place.

No refreshments had been prepared in the courtyard.

Refreshments were meant to show hospitality. Calling someone without preparing any was effectively an open insult.

It wasn’t just that. Proper etiquette required standing closer for a conversation, yet Rahellica stood over ten steps away, merely watching her.

Dressed in flowing fabrics imported from a neighboring country, she partially hid her proud face behind a fan.

From head to toe, she looked like Iris in her youth. Talia barely suppressed her disgust.

Rahellica often tried to make herself seem like their mother, but this was excessive, even by those standards. Talia glared at her sister, dressed like Iris before marriage.

Rahellica fluttered her fan at that moment.

“Didn’t you say you had something to say?”

Talia’s gaze hardened, and she spoke with barely restrained irritation.

“I said I have something to say. So stop wasting time with these theatrics.”

Rahellica’s fan fluttered once more, the movement slow and deliberate, as if to draw out Talia’s growing impatience.

“I’m listening,” she said, her tone deceptively calm. “But first, I must ask—why the sudden visit after ignoring my requests for a whole month?”

Talia’s jaw tightened. She had counted the days, every single one, waiting for this moment. Her older sister’s dismissive attitude only made her blood boil more.

“You ignored me! You didn’t respond to my letters, my requests—nothing! And now, after a month, you summon me here, in front of everyone, like nothing happened? Is this how you treat your own sister?”

Rahellica’s lips curved into a faint, mocking smile.

“Tsk… still as fiery as ever. You’ve certainly inherited Mother’s spirit. But, Talia, you misunderstand me. This isn’t about ignoring you—it’s about testing you.”

Talia blinked, incredulous. “Testing me? What kind of excuse is that? I don’t care about your tests. I want answers!”

Rahellica tilted her head, letting the sunlight catch the edge of her delicate features.

“Answers? My dear sister, answers are earned, not demanded. You see, appearances can be deceiving, and understanding comes only to those who can observe and think. Perhaps this month has given you the chance to… reflect?”

Talia’s hands clenched into fists at her sides. Every word her sister spoke was another spark to the fire in her chest.

“You call this reflection? You’ve humiliated me in front of the palace! You’ve treated me like a child! And you expect me to… reflect?”

Rahellica let out a soft laugh, though her eyes were sharp, almost predatory.

“Oh, Talia… always so dramatic. But that’s what makes you… interesting. Now, tell me, what is it that you came here to say?”

Talia took a deep breath, forcing herself to steady her voice. She had waited for this confrontation, and she would not back down now.

“I’m here to tell you that I will not be made a fool. I will not bow to your games. Whatever you’ve planned, whatever tricks you’ve set, I see through them. And I will not stand by and let you—”

Rahellica raised a hand, stopping Talia mid-sentence.

“Very well,” she said smoothly. “You are bold. Perhaps too bold for your own good. But I admire your courage… for now.”

Talia’s heart pounded. Every instinct screamed that her sister was testing her, manipulating her, and yet she could not retreat. Not now, not ever.

The courtyard remained silent, save for the rustling of Rahellica’s fan and the distant sounds of the Empress’ palace gardens.

Talia’s glare did not waver.

“I came here to make one thing clear,” she said, her voice firm. “Do not expect me to yield. Not now, not ever.”

Rahellica tilted her head, regarding her sister with an expression that was equal parts amusement and calculation.

“Bold words,” she said, almost softly. “We shall see how long you can keep them.”

For Talia, that was all she needed to hear. She had spoken her truth, and no matter what her sister tried, she would not bend.

The game between the two sisters had only just begun.